


Anyone Else's Opinion

by i_luv_obiwan91



Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: Daniel talks it out, F/M, His opinion matters, Hurt/Comfort, She's been waiting for another invitation, So does Hers, War wounds, peggysous
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-02
Updated: 2015-03-04
Packaged: 2018-03-16 00:47:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3468134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_luv_obiwan91/pseuds/i_luv_obiwan91
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Daniel. Do you remember when I said that I knew my own value, and that I didn’t need another’s approval?” Peggy waited and he nodded, still very much held captive by her proximity and touch. “Well, I also said no one else’s opinion really mattered, and I was wrong to draw such a harsh line."</p><p>Set a week after Agent Carter series finale.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Anyone Else's Opinion

_“I know my value. Anyone else’s opinion doesn’t really matter.”_

That’s what she said, not long before very politely declining his offer to go out for a drink. Now it had been a week or so of slowly getting things in order, back to routine. Many changes were being made, yes, there was more respect, yes, but there was much of the same, as well. Probably too much. Certainly the same interactions between Agent Sousa and Agent Carter: polite, respectful, enough trust for a working relationship. But no, it wasn’t quite the same.

Peggy had been waiting all week for another offer and Daniel’s handsome grin, but had seen only polite nods and the occasional suppressed smirk when Director Thompson was sassed or another Agent put in their place for misogyny. She didn’t see much of him when she was defending his honor, or slighting a man who thought it attractive to jest about “our resident _crip_.”

A week was a long time, though sometimes it felt as though only hours had passed. Carter was still sufficiently sore from her battle with “Dottie” during Ivchenko’s capture, and the memories of Director Dooley’s horrific death were still very fresh. But in that same week since, she had come a long way. Her keep— and _more_ — had been earned in the office; she was doing actual work that challenged her intellect, and she was succeeding. One major step had been made to release the iron-strong grip her heart had taken hold of Steve Rogers’ love. The war had postponed so many things, things she wished that Steve would be there to share with her, but her grief had finally come to the stage of acceptance. She would always love him, but there was now the time for her to live a fresh life.

That fresh hold of life had very much been established with her actions of late to set herself on the career path she knew she wanted. Carter was almost comfortable with her life, now. Almost.

Agent Sousa walked determinedly past her in the hall, eyes only for his work, and made his way into the filing room just down the way. With a deep breath of resolve, Peggy turned to follow him discretely and managed to catch a hint of Daniel’s aftershave. She smirked at herself; only two men had ever reduced her to a lonely woman relishing such a smell. Steve was one. Her feet were trailing the other.

“Daniel—“ Rounding the corner, Peggy was straight away with what she’d thought to say and stopped short. Sousa was bent over the table in the center of the room, eyes screwed shut, and his hand gripping his maimed leg through his trousers.

With a jolt, he tried to straighten when he heard her, but still leaned heavily to support himself. His face was flushed from the collar up, and there was a light sheen of sweat. “ _Peg_ , sorry, I…”

“Are you all right, Daniel?” Pushing the door to, she took some concerned steps forward, but didn’t crowd him, he seemed embarrassed enough of such pain.

He paused, about to say something stupid that she would see straight through like, ‘I’m fine,’ or, ‘it’s nothing.’ Instead he took a breath and shook his head very slightly. “Not today. Not really, no.” He couldn’t lie to Carter like he could shrug it off to the guys. She would know. He managed a tight grimace of a smile and met her eyes to see the true worry there. “Had a bad night. You know it’s been rainin’ steady since yesterday?”

Frowning, Peggy took a few steps more and brought her hand to cover his clenched fist on the table. “I had thought to ask if you still wanted that drink.” He looked up at her in surprise. “But I think now you really should be taking today off. You’re not well.”

Daniel shook his head, trying again to straighten up. “I can’t just take a snow day every time it rains, Peg.”

“I know that if you were _my_ agent Sousa, I’d be sending you home for the day. You’re no good to me in such straits, and I’d rather have you recover after a day or two and come back with the same vigor that you always out-wit your colleagues with.”

 _My agent Sousa._ Didn’t she know he _was_ her agent? What he’d mull over for Thompson, he’d do for her in a heartbeat. Outwardly, however, the man scoffed. “I’m not much good to you on a sunny day, either. But I’ve got to stay—“

The grip on his wrist tightened and spread over his knuckles, and Sousa let his words fall. Peggy was giving him a very earnest look. “ _Daniel_. Do you remember when I said that I knew my own value, and that I didn’t need another’s approval?” Peggy waited and he nodded, still very much held captive by her proximity and touch. “Well, I also said no one else’s opinion really mattered, and I was wrong to draw such a harsh line. I was wrong because _your_ opinion does mean rather a lot to me…” Her eyes had drifted down to where her hand still rested on Daniel’s, but rose at last to meet his stare. “And I hoped that mine meant something to you, also, because I know your value very well.”

Sousa really couldn’t articulate how he felt or what to say just then. The ache and cramps up his leg and side were flaring, and he grit his teeth, but he wanted so bad to tell Carter just how much her opinion mattered. “Peggy, you really want me to go home?”

“What I really want is for you to come home with _me_ , so I can make you a proper cup of tea and we can try to calm these war wounds.” Though not without true concern, her eyebrow rose in a lovely arch and made him smile.

“That sounds great.”


	2. Her Opinion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by Tumblr user scullyssahnequarkbroetchen when she posted the Friendly Reminder: “…that if Daniel had a chaplain at his bedside after he got hit, he must have been really, really really BADLY injured. And if that said chaplain actually threw away all of his belongings Daniel Sousa was at one point, closer to death than to life.”

“So, the chaplain paid you a visit in the field hospital?” Now sat down by the fire with a hot cup of tea each, and a blanket for Peggy’s lap, she broached the subject that had become something of an elephant in the room since they left the office back at S.S.R.

Daniel scoffed, nodding, and about to make light of his handicap once more until she turned to face him more fully and her gaze forced him to be serious. He felt like those brown eyes could cut to his core. “Yeah, I haven’t really talked about that to anyone.” Turning introspective, Daniel realized he hadn’t meant to keep it a _secret_ , but no one seemed willing to hear the whole gruesome tale, and so he kept quiet.

“You spoke a little of it to _me_.” Peggy reminded him, and he found his eyes back on her for the hundredth time since the filing room just a while earlier.

That’s right. He had loosed a bit of his history to Carter when she was low and dwelling on the pain of loss from the war. She was taking him seriously, and Sousa pulled himself together to be grateful and not waste the opportunity. A deep sigh left him before he caught her eye with a half smile, relenting. “I was half aware. I really didn’t know he’d come until after I was starting to mend. The same chaplain was killed by a misfire later and one of the nurses told me how he’d come to ‘commend my soul to heaven’ when I was at my worst.”

He didn’t recall Peggy having set her tea aside, but there was her hand, touching the bend of his arm. “Daniel, if the chaplain came, then you…” Disbelief softened her voice, causing him to wince in acknowledgement.

“It means I was closer to death than to life. The shrapnel got all up in me, even though my leg took the worst. Days like today, I swear I feel like it’s still grinding against my bones, every move I make.” Absently, he began to rub on his stunted leg, but switched to straightening the pleat in his pants when he glanced her way and realized she was watching him. “I was sick with fever for a while because we were low on supplies and I got an infection. Even with all the therapy once I got state-side, it took a long time to get any strength back.” With the shaking of his head, Carter could see how he was still dissatisfied with his shortcomings, compared perhaps to what he had once been physically. He was rubbing his leg again, close to where she assumed his prosthetic began.

“Does it hurt to wear that?” Nodding toward the false leg, Peggy’s brow furrowed with concern.

Daniel barked a laugh as real as that wood and metal limb. “Government issue, agent Carter. Don’t you know that’s the definition of comfort?” He tried to shrug it off with humor and she answered him with a wan smile.

“If you’ve no other plans, I was hoping we could spend the afternoon this way. And, if you would be more comfortable…” Peggy trailed off, but he knew what she meant. Comfortable _without_ his prosthetic. Sure, physically, it’d be a relief. The holster was too tight when he swelled up, the butt of it jolted him with every step, no matter how he tried to cushion it, and he was constantly pinched and blistered so that by the end of the day his _real_ leg looked positively angry at him. But _emotionally_ comfortable? Yeah, about as comfortable as he’d be stark naked in front of her right now.

She was still looking at him, and his ears were starting to burn. Daniel worked his jaw and finally sighed, explaining through the middle of it. “Yeah, but Peg… It’s not pretty.” He was wincing again, in anticipation of how she might change her mind.

Tilting her head, Peggy arched a brow and allowed just a bit of a smile to come through her eyes. “You don’t think I’m pretty enough for the both of us, Daniel?” Sweet playfulness mingled with gentle admonition in her tone, and it melted him.

Daniel smiled warmly at her, his eyes affectionate. “Yeah, I do.” With her encouraging smile in response, he soaked in it just long enough to get the gumption he needed and bent over to start rolling his pant leg up. He tried really hard to be quick and casual about it—I mean, come on, he did this every day—but Daniel felt her gaze on his movements and it made his fingers falter a couple times.

Patiently, Peggy watched him take up that wide-legged trouser until she thought he’d stop at the knee, and then to her surprise, even further. His true leg ended mid-thigh, where she had assumed they took it below the knee, like many amputees she’d seen. He was trying not to roll his pant leg up too high, but he had to expose some of his flesh to un-fasten the prosthetic and she caught a glimpse of very red, scarred skin, and creases where he’d had the false limb strapped tightly. _We’ll have to do something about that_ , she thought to herself, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth.

Before another moment passed, the leg was removed and set alongside his crutch at the end of the sofa they shared. Sousa was tucking the hem of his trouser leg into his belt so it wasn’t dangling off, and she noticed his eyes close in a mixture of pain and relief.

“Is that a little better?” She asked him hopefully.

Looking at her, he released a breath and rubbed his hip with the heel of his hand, forcing a bit of a smile for her benefit. “Yeah, it is. Thanks.”

“You know, Daniel…” He looked to her with those dark eyes and darker brows raised expectantly, and she decided again—for there had been many of these decisions—that he was really, very handsome. “I’m humbled that you shared this with me about yourself. To know how close you were to not coming through the war, it makes me very appreciative of just how strong a man you are. I wish you wouldn’t compare yourself to the other agents, physically, or otherwise, because it’s rather unfair to _them_.” Peggy looked at him steadily until their eyes met and held for several moments of mutual appreciation.

“You know how to make a guy feel whole again, Peg.” The words weren’t loud, he murmured them like he wanted to make sure, in a house alone, that only she heard him.

“Well, you know I only ever say what I mean.” She matched her voice to the same volume, glancing down between them at the space slowly growing smaller as Peggy had been calculatedly shifting nearer. If Daniel realized this, he didn’t mind. In fact, was he leaning closer?

“Yes, you do.” He agreed. “Which is probably why your opinion matters so much to me.” Daniel was certainly leaning into her, now, and Peggy was _certainly_ determined to take advantage of it. They were near enough to breathe the same air, and Daniel’s eyes were glancing down to her rosined lips when she moved to kiss his. Instantly, his shoulders relaxed and she felt his chest rise and fall as kissed her slowly. A careful hand rose to card through her hair and lay gently on her neck, as he pressed further, still, and deepened their first taste of each other. “Peggy…” Her name was just a sigh across her chin as Daniel tilted his head and kissed along the trail of her jaw, pressing his lips to the earring at the end.

Quite naturally, Peggy’s hands came to rest at his shoulders and one could not be restrained as her fingers scratched lightly up his neck and into the short black hair above his nape. This merely enticed Daniel further, and with his eyes still shut—and brain wildly scrambling to accept that he was actually _necking_ with agent Margaret Carter—he took both his hands on either side of her lovely face and kissed her like he meant it. The soft sounds of pleasure she made were fuel to the flame, and Peggy’s arms around his neck taught him how to love the burn.

Eventually, their excitement calmed, but the intent remained, and they continued to slowly taste, nuzzle, and tease with caresses until Daniel opened his eyes to find Peggy’s still closed and a peacefully happy expression soaked into her face. Also, her stunning dark lipstick was mussed most of where he had been kissing her. With a smirk, he imagined it was mirrored similarly on his own mug. He couldn’t bring himself to care.

Peggy took a deep breath and grinned as she opened her eyes straight into Sousa’s, sparkling with life and relieved to have come to this point. She looked so young, suddenly, mischievous and innocent at the same time. It was a good look. With a small laugh, her fingers came up and expertly wiped at the corners of his mouth, brown eyes dancing as she took in all the other lipstick smudges on his face. “This won’t do at all, Daniel. I’m certainly not going to stop wearing my signature color.”

Daniel laughed as well, and blushed delightfully from neck to ears. “I wouldn’t stand for it.”


End file.
